INFORMAL REPORT ON OBSERVATIONS AND RF FIELD INTENSITY MEASUREMENTS MADE AT A COMMERCIAL FM/TV TOWER LOCATED IN EL PASO, TEXAS
Z. Glaser, R. Curtis · 1978
This 1978 report documented RF field intensities at broadcast towers, providing early occupational exposure data for safety standards.
Plain English Summary
This 1978 technical report documented radiofrequency field intensity measurements at a commercial FM/TV broadcasting tower in El Paso, Texas. The study focused on occupational exposure levels for workers at the transmission facility, providing early data on RF field strengths around high-power broadcast antennas.
Why This Matters
This report represents crucial early documentation of RF exposure levels at broadcast facilities during the dawn of widespread FM and television transmission. What makes this particularly significant is the timing - 1978 was when OSHA was first establishing occupational safety standards for radiofrequency energy exposure. Workers at broadcast towers face some of the highest RF exposures of any occupation, often thousands of times stronger than what the general public experiences from these same towers at ground level. The reality is that broadcast tower workers have served as an inadvertent test population for high-level RF exposure effects. Studies like this provided the foundational exposure data that informed early safety standards, yet many of those standards remain largely unchanged today despite decades of research showing biological effects at much lower levels than previously considered safe.
Figures from the Original Paper
Diagram extracted from the original research document.
Exposure Details
- Power Density
- 100 mW/cm2
- Electric Field
- 300 V/m
- Exposure Duration
- Approximately 2 hours
Exposure Context
This study used 100 mW/cm2 for radio frequency:
- 10,000Mx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.1 μW/m²
- 166.7Mx above the BioInitiative Report recommendation of 0.0006 μW/cm²
This study used 300 V/m for electric fields:
- 1Kx above the Building Biology guideline of 0.3 V/m
Building Biology guidelines are practitioner-based limits from real-world assessments. BioInitiative Report recommendations are based on peer-reviewed science. Check Your Exposure to compare your own measurements.
Where This Falls on the Concern Scale
Study Details
To determine if employees working in the monitoring building at the base of the transmitting antenna tower, or employees working on the antenna tower itself, are exposed to hazardous levels of radiofrequency (RF) energy.
RF field intensity measurements were made at a commercial FM/TV broadcast transmitter station and tr...
RF levels in the monitoring building were well below the present OSHA guideline of 10 mW/cm2. RF lev...
Workers should not be permitted to climb the tower while the antennas are energized. The station manager indicated compliance would be no problem since they could schedule most maintenance during off-hours. The study recommends a comprehensive study of RF/microwave tower climbers and measurement of magnetic and electric fields on and around the tower, as well as determination of any health effects in workers who regularly climb transmission towers.
Show BibTeX
@article{informal_report_on_observations_and_rf_field_intensity_measurements_made_at_a_co_g6103,
author = {Z. Glaser and R. Curtis},
title = {INFORMAL REPORT ON OBSERVATIONS AND RF FIELD INTENSITY MEASUREMENTS MADE AT A COMMERCIAL FM/TV TOWER LOCATED IN EL PASO, TEXAS},
year = {1978},
}